Avid Enhances Online Customer Support Capabilities

Tewksbury, Mass, 2008-03-17
Avid Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: AVID) today announced significant enhancements to Avid's online customer support user-interface (http://support.avid.com/?cmpid=knowledgebasepr_1) – a popular support destination for the company's professional film and video customers. The redesigned Web tool dramatically improves the types of technical resources and information available to Avid® support customers, allowing users to seek more accurate and personalized answers to important product and service queries, 24/7. Prior to launching the new site, Avid technical experts reviewed and updated more than 10,000 pieces of content with the goal of making it easier for customers to search for relevant information and effectively resolve technical issues.

The improvements that Avid has made to enhance the online customer support experience are tremendous, said Todd Smelser, director of Post Production at SUCH, a production company located in Michigan. Not only is the site much more intuitive, but the functionality works the way I need it to. Entering an error message in the search field returns the right result, and the new ability to interact with live support representatives and ask questions in real time is huge. In the last week, I have asked two very specific questions and I received prompt responses with great information. Another particular feature that users will find extremely valuable is the ability to receive, save, and track tech notes with greater efficiency than before. This really streamlines the troubleshooting process because the site tracks and aggregates every information request that I make – and the responses I receive – in one, centralized, easily-managed space. I love that. These improvements show that Avid is really starting to listen to customers – and act on the concerns that have been raised about the quality of the support resources that the company provides.

The new Avid online customer support tool offers a wide range of improvements, including:

User-ranked content for greater self-service support. A powerful search engine intelligently ranks and categorizes content, using adaptive search technology and click-tracking studies to monitor the content that users consistently rank as most useful. These real-time user-generated metrics, which update automatically as users visit and contribute to the site, help to ensure that customers receive only the most relevant problem-solving content.

Up-to-the-minute personalized notifications. Users can choose to receive email notifications when any customer support topic is updated – eliminating the need for repetitive searches.

Faster response times on support issues. By utilizing query-tracking capabilities and an integrated approach to incident management, Avid can identify and publish answers to emerging support issues with greater speed.

Answers to queries – 24/7. Powered by an intelligent automated response system that matches questions with the most relevant published content available, users can receive answers to technical inquiries 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The system automatically logs all submitted queries and responses, and makes all of this information available for easy reference by any user, at any time. In certain instances, the system will merge multiple individual queries on the same topic into a single published article in order to effectively deliver relevant information to the larger customer support community. In the event that users are not satisfied with the technical information they receive, an Avid customer support representative will intervene to provide further assistance.

About Avid Technology, Inc.

Avid is a worldwide leader in tools for film, video, audio, 3D animation, gaming and broadcast professionals – as well as for home audio and video enthusiasts. Avid professional and consumer brands include Avid, Digidesign®, M-Audio®, Pinnacle Systems®, Sibelius®, Softimage® and Sundance Digital®. The vast majority of primetime television shows, feature films, commercials and chart-topping music hits are made using one or more Avid products. Whether used by seasoned professionals or beginning students, Avid's products and services enable customers to work more efficiently, productively and creatively. Avid received an Oscar® statuette representing the 1998 Scientific and Technical Award for the concept, design, and engineering of the Avid Film Composer® system for motion picture editing. For more information about the company's Oscar, Grammy® and Emmy® award-winning products and services, visit www.avid.com.